Kjell Madland had a dream - to bring the world's
best players to his corner of the world - Fjordland; the west coast of Norway.

Fast forward to Thursday May 16 and World Champion
Viswanathan Anand could be found at the
wheel of a speedboat, traversing the Lyse Fjord at speeds of up to 30 knots,
with the World Champion knowing that one false turn could send tournament
leader Sergey Karjakin into the freezing water and hand the tournament to his
resting rival Magnus Carlsen. Meanwhile Peter Svidler was trekking to the top
of the Pulpit Rock.
Clearly the organisers of Norway Chess didn't only believe in over the board
competition - they prepared an Extreme Rest Day as well.

Madland admitted that finding sponsors to fulfil
his dream had
been rather more difficult than expected - the budget of an elite tournament exceeds $300,000. However with the
support of world number one Magnus Carlsen and a large team of enthusiastic
organisers, one of the tournaments of the year, Norway Chess, came to Sandnes
(and Stavanger and Algard and other venues around the neighbourhood - the
tournament hall was a movable feast).

Stavanger, the largest town in the region and
regularly listed as one of the most expensive cities in the world, is a centre
for shipping, fishing and, most of all, Norway's share of the North Sea oil
industry. However the tourism industry is also significant and the tournament
has been used a showcase for the region. This was a factor which came into
consideration when considering which players to invite, so having Anand and
Wang Hao attend - the top representatives of the two most populous countries in
the world - was a no-brainer.

One of the players targeted was Hikaru Nakamura,
though he needed to miss the US Championship to take part. The US number one
was seeded fifth, behind Carlsen, Anand, Levon Aronian and Veselin Topalov.
(Vladimir Kramnik was on the original entry list, which at one time included
the top eight players in the world, but he withdrew after his London Candidates
disappointment - with the organizers' agreement - and was replaced by Peter
Svidler.

Photo Cathy Rogers

Nakamura had a mixed start to the tournament -
including "One of the absolute worst games I've
played in a very long time" in round two against Aronian - but by the end of
round four Nakamura was in clear second place thanks to a fine win against the
World Champion.
Bryne
2013
White:
V.Anand
Black:
H.Nakamura
Opening:
Spanish
1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.c3 d6 8.d4 Bb6 9.Be3
A sideline
with which Anand had already lost a game to Caruana earlier this year. 9...0-0
10.Nbd2 Re8
Caruana
played the more common 10...h6.

11.Re1
Na5 12.Bc2 c5 13.dxc5 dxc5White
exchanging pawns in the centre is considered toothless in most lines of the
Spanish and this does not seem like a position where the d5 or f5 squares look
particularly weak.14.Qe2
Ng4
A risky
plan, since exchanging the bishop on e3 will only help the White knight to
reach its best square.15.Nf1
Be6 16.Ng5 Nxe3 17.Nxe6 fxe6! 18.Nxe3 c4
The only
consistent follow-up by Nakamura, who correctly judged that "the bishop on
b6 should provide more than enough compensation for the doubled pawns."
19.Qh5
Qc7 20.Ng4 Rf8 21.Re2 Rad8 22.Rd1 Rxd1+ 23.Bxd1 Rd8!?
More
ambitious than 23...Qd6 24.Bc2 Nc6 with boring equality. 24.Bc2 b4!?
25.cxb4
Both
players believed that Black was taking over the initiative and failed to notice
the computer suggestion 25.Rd2! which causes Black some inconvenience.25...Nc6
26.Ba4 Nxb4 27.Qxe5 Qe7 28.Qh5?!
Nakamura
was expecting 28.Qc3 though after 28...Rd4 29.a3 Nd3 30.Bc2 Qg5 he believed
that Black had ample compensation for the sacrificed pawn.28...Nxa2
29.g3?

Nakamura
may have been in second place after four rounds, with games against Carlsen,
Aronian and Anand already out of the way but he was a point and a half off the
pace as Karjakin had won his first four games.

Karjakin
was brought back to earth by Carlsen in the fifth round but Nakamura knew that
his dream of winning the Norway Chess depended on his winning with
Black against Karjakin in the seventh round.

The fateful
seventh round was played in an extraordinary venue, the island of Flor & Fjaere.

Flor &
Fjaere was a typically windswept island on the Rodne Fjord until a family who
ran a nursery on the mainland moved in. Since then the island has been
populated by trees, flowers, cacti and in summer months is a riot of colour
which attracts 30,000 visitors per year. With winter hanging around a month
later than usual in western Norway, the flowers were struggling through wind
and rain but the island was nonetheless an oasis of colour in the fjord.

The games
were played in the island restaurant which looked out on to the fjord. After
the game Karjakin spoke in superlatives of the views; "It was brilliant;
watching the sea was amazing. I would like to play all the tournament here!"

GMs Karjakin and Nakamura, Photo Cathy Rogers

Karjakin's
mood was no doubt improved by the game which had gone beforehand - the game
which ended Nakamura's ambitions for first place.
Flor
& Fjaere 2013
White
S.Karjakin
Black
H.Nakamura
Opening:
Sicilian Najdorf
1.e4 c5
2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 Nbd7
A few years
ago Nakamura won a fine game against this move (replying 8.f4) and went as far
as to claim that computer analysis had made lines such as this almost
unplayable for Black. Clearly he is no longer so convinced.7.Qe2!?
g6 8.0-0-0 Bg7 9.f4 Qa5

10.g3?! h6! 11.Bxf6
"Clearly
it was not my intention to take on f6," said Karjakin, "but after
11.Bh4 I couldn't find a good answer against 11...Nh7, e.g. 12.g4 g5 13.fxg5
hxg5 14.Bg3. I can play this, but I think Black is fine.
"Clearly
10.Nf3 was the critical move."
11...Nxf6
12.Bg2 Bg4 13.Bf3 Bxf3 14.Qxf3 0-0
"Now
Black is completely fine, maybe even slightly better," admitted Karjakin.
"The position I had after the opening was very stupid."
15.Rhe1
Nd7 16.Nb3 Qc7 17.Nd5 Qd8 18.h4 Rc8 19.h5 e6
"Now I
was happy," said Karjakin. "After 19...g5! I can easily be much
worse." The tactical point is that White cannot immediately occupy the f5
square because 20.Ne3 can be met by 20...Qc7 21.c3 e6.20.Nc3!
Bxc3 21.bxc3 Qf6 22.hxg6 fxg6 23.Rxd6 Ne5?
"I
cannot understand this move," said Karjakin. "After 23...Rxc3 24.Qd1
Nc5 the position is just equal."24.Qh1!
Nc4 25.e5 Qf7
Karjakin
thought that the depressing 25...Qe7 was a better chance, hoping to hold the
endgame after 26.Qxh6 Nxd6 27.Qxg6+ Qg7 28.Qxg7+ Kxg7 29.exd6. It is not an
inspiring prospect.26.Rd4
"Now I
am just a pawn up," said Karjakin.26...h5
27.Qe4 b5 28.Red1 Rc7

Karjakin is
not quite home and hosed; local hero Carlsen has gone on a three game winning
streak and sits just half a point behind the 22-year-old Russian. (Karjakin
started his life as a Ukrainian but the biggest transfer fee in FIDE history
saw him change federations in 2009.)

For
Nakamura, a respectable third place finish is still a realistic possibility
though adjusting to a lesser goal than first place will be tricky. (He passed
on the Extreme Rest Day excursion.)

In any case
a new opportunity awaits next week, when Nakamura will join new US Champion
Gata Kamsky at a Grand Prix tournament in Thessaloniki. The GP tournament - a
last minute replacement for the planned event in Madrid - is certain not to
match Norway Chess for atmosphere, organization or spectators but it is a
part-qualifier for the next Candidates tournament so having momentum as Norway
Chess finishes will be important.

The biggest
reason for finishing well may be to ensure an invitation to Norway Chess II. The
first venture into top level chess went so well, the organizers are already
planning a second edition. Dreams can come true - though the biggest dream-come-true for the
organizers will be to have a Norwegian World Champion in the 2014 tournament.